Diving was just so incredible. Yes, I was a little freaked,
but it wasn’t really scary at all.
Everyone says you always remember your first breath under
water. Well, that part was a letdown for me because I didn’t think it was all
that spectacular. I mean, yes, it was cool, but it’s not like I thought I was
going to die and all of a sudden realized I wasn’t and was so enthralled with
it. I mean, I knew I was going to be breathing.
The part I didn’t realize is that I was going to sound like
Darth Vader, though. That part threw me, but I figured out pretty quick that it
was normal. It just wasn’t in the manual that I’d read.
The drill for the open water dives is you read this book
and/or watch some videos, then get kitted up. Well, before that, there was a
“swim test,” which was kind of vague. I’d gotten to the beach on Easter, and it
was completely packed. Like I think about a third of the area’s population was
there, and there were all kinds of kids swimming.
The beach itself was just a small little area, with maybe
half a mile of little shop fronts. There were a few dive places, but mostly
just food and T-shirt shops. My dive place also had really good food, and had
some tables and things sitting in front of the store front, all full of people.
This meant that there was quite a crowd between the beach and the dive place,
obscuring the view.
After I got suited up in an exposure suit, fins, mask and a
snorkel, my dive instructor gave me the sketchy instructions of, “Go swim
halfway to that boat and back,” as he waved his hand toward the beach. This was
the swim test. I think the book said 200 meters; I’m pretty sure it wasn’t that,
but it was kind of weird. And I don’t even remember whose boat it was. I mean,
I was wearing all that stuff walking down this short beach, gathering all kinds
of stares. Ah well. I do get used to that living where I live.
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| Look closely to see the tiny crab |
Anyway, after the test and some further instruction, I then
hit the surf again with the dive instructor for stuff like how to cope when you
lose your regulator, mask or whatever. It wasn’t bad, but I kept getting
distracted by all the cool things under water.
For the open water certification, your first run-throughs
are supposed to be “confined” dives. In most cases, this is done in a swimming
pool, so I was pretty surprised when we waded into the surf, but it worked out.
I certainly got to see more fun stuff than you would find in a swimming pool.
I’d never seen a live sea urchin before. Apparently they’re
really nasty critters, but I didn’t try to touch anything. I looked around once
and I was in the middle of a school of fish swimming by. They were little
eight-inch glimpses of silver – hundreds of them, swirling right by my head. Everything
was just so amazing.
On the second day, I did more of the same in the morning,
but in the afternoon we went by boat to a dive spot.
The boats are really funky. They have these little pontoon-y
things for balance, only, unlike a pontoon boat, the thingies don’t normally
hit the water. They’re on practically ALL the boats, from the 100-seater (loose
term) ferries like on the ride over to the two-man canoe size.
While the boat is tied to the shore, little kids use the
pontoon-y things as diving boards and just climb all over the boats. In the US, that’d call for some really close lawyering
up, but in the Philippines
no one blinked an eye.
So we set out for the dive site – the first one was a giant
clamshell/reef thing – and then I discovered I couldn’t just enter the water
with the “giant step” technique in the book. No, they wanted me to flip over
backwards.
The first guy did it and then the instructor told me to go
next. I was like, "You want me to do WHAT?" and had a mild panic
attack and wound up going last. But the other two dives I did it just fine. I
am just not a big turner of somersaults.
I did, however, bump my head coming up once.
All you can think of underwater is how amazing God is. You
can sit and look at one reef and think you've taken it all in and suddenly
something else will pop out of it, like a lot of baby fish or some kind of eel.
It's ever-changing and some of the stuff is just so subtle.
On the second day of boat diving, we went to a shipwreck
site – think jon boat, not yacht. The junked boats had turned into artificial
reefs, with stuff living on them and in them. The instructor brought down some
bread and we hovered and held it out. The fish gathered around and ate out of
our hands. The only word I could come up with to describe it was “magical.” Big
Nemos, little Nemos, friends of Nemos. It was just phenomenal.
At one point a little Nemo came right up to my mask and
stared at me, and I stared right back. I’d like to think he was as impressed as
I was, but I doubt it.
So now I have to figure out
where to go next to dive again. That was just so much
fun, and just a different world entirely. Peaceful and serene, except for the
few bumps when you realize you just got kicked by someone else's fin.SE Asia is really tops for diving, so now it's a matter of figuring where else I want to go. Thailand and Indonesia (not Jakarta) are great spots, and it's not like there aren't any more in the Philippines. There are tons. So I don't know. But I do want to do it again.
The culture is amazing and
friendly. Diving people are accommodating and quick to help, which is good
because the whole money thing did NOT pan out. Mind you, I had a plan, an
alternate plan and two back-ups. I left owing money, after taking two trips
into "town" and trying all four of the city's ATMs (!) and begging in
person at both its walk-in banks. Western Union
also would have no part of me. Envision also refused to reset my PIN number
like I asked, which really, really ticked me off.
Fortunately, the instructor
didn’t try and have me detained or anything, and I had $100 US, which was
enough to pay for the hotel and ferry, airport tax and taxis. (Did I mention
how cheap traveling in SE Asia is?) Everyone
at the dive center was incredibly forgiving.
I also had issues with Western Union
once I got home, trying not one or two methods of payment but FIVE.
Fortunately, Daddy was able to take cash to a location in Havana and the instructor got his money. I
felt so very bad about it.
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| This was where I stayed. |
Next weekend, I am pulling the trigger for Hong Kong Disney.
It’s not a three-day weekend, but Thursday is a holiday and a friend and her
family are taking off Friday as well. I am not, but I will meet them at the
hotel Friday evening and go to Disney on Saturday. For me, it will be a quick
trip, but I’m fine with that. Disneyland there
is supposed to be small, so it should be enough time.
The family is coming back at 11 a.m. on Sunday, but I booked
the train two hours later. In that time, I am hoping to either get a haircut or
see a movie. I live big, I know.
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